I've
heard that there's nothing new under the sun and that history repeats
itself. It amazes, and sometimes disturbs me that some of the things I see
going on in our country and the world have happened before. Some great
thinkers, statesmen and writers have commented on democracy and morality, and
I've gathered a few of my favorites here. I tried to arrange them along
with 2 Amendments to the Constitution. They seem, amendments and
quotations, to support each other very nicely.

These
are important lessons for the people of today. We need to know what has
happened in the past. As Edmund Burke said: "Those who don't
know history are destined to repeat it." Many people in many
societies have tried many systems of government and economics. We need to
know which ones have worked, and which have not and why. Repeating failed
experiments is a waste of time and resources.

5th
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

No
person shall be depr

ived of life, liberty or property without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just
compensation.

Democracy
and Economics

Rev.
William John Henry Boetcker (1873–1962) Presbyterian minister

You
cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You
cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You
cannot help little men by tearing down big men.

You
cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You
cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You
cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.

You
cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You
cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

You
cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and
independence.

And
you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do
for themselves.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) US President; author of the Declaration of
Independence

It
is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle
which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

To
compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions
which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.

Anonymous

The
Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to
work and give to those who would not.

Alexander Tytler (1747-1813) Scottish writer, historian & lawyer

A
democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist
until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of
the public treasury.

James Madison
(1751-1836) US President, co-author of the Federalist Papers, co-author of the
US Constitution

I
cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which
granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the
money of their constituents."

Margaret Thatcher
(1925- ) Prime Minister of Great Britain

The
problem with Socialism is you eventually run out of other people’s money.

Robert Heinlein(1907-1988) American writer

TANSTAAFL
– There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

Democracy
and Morality

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) US President; author of the Gettysburg Address

A
government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Ayn Rand
(1905-1982) Russian-American writer

Individual
rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away
the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to
protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on
earth is the individual

A. A.
Bestuzhev-Marlinsky (1797–1837) Russian poet

The
official's heart must stand at attention before his mind.

Kenneth McClellan
(1955- ) American soldier

Democracy
without morality is dictatorship by the majority and slavery of the minority.

Democracy and Liberty

2d Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States

A
well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the
minority.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Cicero
- 55 BC

The
budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should
be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and
the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become
bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public
assistance.